The present invention relates to circuits and systems incorporating solid-state devices referred to herein as “transpinnors” and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,929,636 and 6,031,273, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. More specifically, the present application describes interface circuitry for transmitting signals between semiconductor circuitry and transpinnor-based circuitry.
The vast majority of electronic circuits and systems manufactured and sold today are based on semiconductor technology developed over the last half century. Semiconductor processing techniques and techniques for manufacturing integrated circuits have become increasingly sophisticated resulting in ever smaller device size while increasing yield and reliability. However, the precision of such techniques appears to be approaching its limit, making it unlikely that systems manufactured according to such technique will be able to continue their historical adherence to Moore's Law which postulates a monotonic increase in available data processing power over time.
In addition, as the techniques for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits have increased in sophistication, so have they correspondingly increased in cost. For example, current state-of-the-art integrated circuits require a large number of processing steps to integrate semiconductor circuitry, metal layers, and embedded circuits, an issue which is exacerbated by the varied nature of the materials being integrated. And the demand for higher levels of complexity and integration continue to grow. The technical difficulties facing the semiconductor industry are well summarized by P. Packan in the Sep. 24th, 1999, issue of Science magazine beginning at page 33, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
Finally, there are some applications for which conventional semiconductor integrated circuit technology is simply not well suited. An example of such an application is spacecraft systems in which resistance to external radiation is extremely important. Electronic systems aboard spacecraft typically require elaborate shielding and safeguards to prevent loss of information and/or system failure due to exposure to any of the wide variety of forms of radiation commonly found outside earth's atmosphere. Not only are these measures costly in terms of dollars and weight, they are not always completely effective, an obvious drawback given the dangers of space travel.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide electronic systems which facilitate higher levels of integration, reduce manufacturing complexity, and provide a greater level of reliability in a wider variety of operating environments. As described in the aforementioned U.S. patents, such electronic systems are made possible by the advent of the all-metal, multi-purpose circuit element referred to as the “transpinnor.” However, given the infancy of the transpinnor and transpinnor-based systems, and the still ubiquitous nature of semiconductor technology, it is desirable to provide interfaces for transmitting signals between these different domains.